Daniel Ek facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Daniel Ek
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Ek in 2025
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Daniel Georg Ek
21 February 1983 Stockholm, Sweden
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| Occupation | Businessman |
| Years active | 2006–present |
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Sofia Levander
(m. 2016) |
| Children | 2 |
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Daniel Georg Ek (born on February 21, 1983) is a Swedish businessman and expert in technology. He is best known as the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Spotify, a very popular music streaming service. A CEO is like the main boss of a company. In May 2025, his wealth was estimated to be around $9.2 billion by Forbes magazine.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Daniel Ek grew up in Rågsved, a part of Stockholm, Sweden. He finished high school at IT-Gymnasiet in Sundbyberg Municipality in 2002. After that, he started studying engineering at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. However, he left after only eight weeks to focus on his career in information technology (IT).
Daniel Ek's Career Journey
Starting Out in Technology
Daniel Ek began creating websites and open-source technologies when he was just fourteen years old. After high school, he worked at Jajja, a company that helps websites show up higher in search results. He also had an important role at Tradera, an online auction company that was bought by eBay in 2006.
Ek was also the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Stardoll, a browser-based game and fashion community. A CTO is the person in charge of all the technology in a company. Later, he started his own online advertising company called Advertigo. Advertigo was sold in 2006. After this, Ek briefly became the CEO of μTorrent, working with its founder Ludvig Strigeus. Strigeus later joined Ek as a developer at Spotify.
Creating Spotify: A Music Revolution
After selling Advertigo and his other work, Daniel Ek had enough money to retire. But after a few months, he wanted a new challenge. This led him to create Spotify. The idea for Spotify came to him in 2002. At that time, a music sharing service called Napster had shut down, and another illegal site, Kazaa, became popular.
Ek realized that laws alone couldn't stop people from illegally sharing music. He believed the only way to solve the problem was to create a service that was better than illegal sharing. This new service also needed to pay the music artists and companies fairly. That's how Spotify was born.
Ek started Spotify AB with Martin Lorentzon in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2006. Lorentzon had worked at and co-founded TradeDoubler, the company that bought Ek's Advertigo. In October 2008, Spotify launched its legal music streaming service. Spotify first used a peer-to-peer system, similar to μTorrent. This meant users shared music directly with each other. However, in 2014, it switched to a server-client model, where music is streamed from Spotify's own servers.
In October 2016, Martin Lorentzon stepped down as chairman, and Ek took over that role while also remaining CEO. By April 2019, Spotify had 217 million active users. By June 2017, the company had raised over $2.5 billion in funding from investors. In 2017, Billboard magazine named Ek the most powerful person in the music industry. In May 2022, Ek invested an extra $50 million to buy more Spotify shares. He did this because he felt very positive about the company's future. At that time, Spotify had 182 million paying subscribers and was growing quickly.
Exploring New Ventures: Neko Health
In 2018, Ek co-founded a medical technology company called Neko Health with engineer Hjalmar Nilsonne. The company became public in 2023. They showed off their special full-body scanning technology. This technology uses sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to collect and study health information without touching the body.
Initially, Ek funded the company himself with €30 million through his investment company. Since then, other investors have also supported Neko Health. As of 2024, the company operates in Stockholm and London. Ek is the chairman of Neko Health, but he is not involved in its daily operations.
Investing in the Future: Prima Materia
Ek also started Prima Materia, an investment company, with Spotify investor Shakil Khan in February 2021. He promised to invest $1 billion into big, ambitious European projects, sometimes called "moonshots." Prima Materia was one of the first investors in Helsing, a German defense technology company. Daniel Ek is the chairman of Helsing. In 2025, the Financial Times reported that Prima Materia led a €600 million investment in Helsing.
Daniel Ek's Views and Ideas
Thoughts on Swedish Law
In 2016, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon wrote an open letter to the Swedish government. They said that if certain laws in Sweden about housing, taxes, and education didn't change, Spotify might have to move out of the country. Ek explained that high taxes on stock options in Sweden make it hard for startups to attract talented programmers. This is because startups can't always pay as much as bigger companies. He also mentioned that Sweden's rules for building new homes are too strict, which limits the number of affordable places to live.
Views on Music and Streaming
In a 2020 interview, Ek shared his thoughts on how artists create music today. He said that artists who used to release music only every three or four years might find it harder to succeed now. He believes that successful artists today constantly connect with their fans. This means putting in effort, telling stories about their albums, and always talking with their fans.
In May 2024, Ek posted online about how easy it is to create content now. He wondered about ideas and music that last a long time versus those that quickly become old. He gave the example of Stoicism, an ancient philosophy, and how the ideas of Marcus Aurelius are still important thousands of years later. He asked what we are creating now that will still be valued in the future.
After some people in the music industry criticized his comments, Ek clarified his thoughts. He said he was too vague and didn't mean to make light of the hard work involved in creating music or art. He explained that he was interested in how great ideas and art can stand out in a world where so much is being created. He wanted to explore how the most creative and thought-provoking works can avoid getting lost in all the "noise."
Personal Life
In 2016, Daniel Ek married Sofia Levander, his longtime partner, at Lake Como in Italy. Famous singer Bruno Mars performed at their wedding, and comedian Chris Rock was the officiant. Many guests attended, including Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Daniel and Sofia Ek have two daughters together.
Ek is a lifelong fan of the Premier League football club Arsenal. In April 2021, he said he was interested in buying the club if it was for sale. In May 2021, Ek made an offer to buy Arsenal for about £1.8 billion, but the club's owners turned down his offer.
See also
In Spanish: Daniel Ek para niños
